The Philippines to be Consecrated to St. Joseph on May 1, 2021

“The Philippine Bishops’ Conference was unanimous in decreeing a national consecration,” Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Apostolic Administrator of Manila, told Fides, who specifies that the Filipino prelates have instructed the Episcopal Commission for the Laity to organize a event befitting the august carpenter.

A spiritual preparation lasting 33 days was thus set up involving all the 86 dioceses of the Philippines.

The Episcopal Commission for the Laity has decided, for this purpose, to ask for the help of Fr. Donald Colloway, author of the book Consecration to St. Joseph.

“I know that the Philippines is going through a difficult time, marked by the pandemic, poverty, unemployment and economic difficulties. We can turn to Saint Joseph for everything: for hope, for peace, for the conversion that brings us closer to Jesus and Mary,” explains Fr. Donald Colloway, who responded positively to the invitation.

The American priest insists: “It is important to remember that we have Our Lady as spiritual mother and St. Joseph as spiritual father.”

Fr. Colloway is convinced that the patronage of the foster father of Christ will help “to increase the virtue and holiness of people because that is what a good father does. We will know the comfort of a good father because what St. Joseph did for Jesus and Mary, he wants to do for us too.”

The consecration of the nation to St. Joseph is one of the initiatives launched on the occasion of the Year of St. Joseph that Pope Francis has proclaimed for the universal Church, from December 8, 2020 to December 8, 2021, in order to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church by Pope Pius IX.